Date: Sunday, Jan 5, 2003 11:35 AM
From: "Xino" <xino@lycos.com>
Subject: [androgynes] Re: Article: Jung's Anima Theory and How it Relates to Crossdressing
To: <androgynes@yahoogroups.com>
[This post is the result of a discussion concerning the article, "Jung's
Anima Theory and How it Relates to Crossdressing," by Catherine Anderson,
which can be found at
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/cathytg/anima.htm]
One problem with Jung's anima theory is that it assumes a
monolithically bipolar psyche: all men have masculine psyches with
feminine unconscious components and all women have the reverse. Another
problem is that if you read Jung closely, you soon realize that he
doesn't think of these as equal opposites. He never tires of putting
down the woman's "animus" so he never clearly admits that women can
think competently. And he never really accepts the full implications of
the man's "anima"; she always has to be regulated and controlled by the
male consciousness. The idea that anybody sane would act out his anima
by crossdressing was unthinkable to him, and he wrote a scathing paper
about the first transsexual surgery, which he thought grotesque.
I think this is the best Jung could do, given the sexually polarized
and misogynistic society he lived in; and for his time it was very
forward-looking.
But I also think we're way beyond that now, and that better
acquaintance with non-western societies has shown that this monolithic
division into two groups isn't the only way of handling gender. And of
course we hold completely different views about male superiority.
So yes, Jung's stuff is a stage to pass through. But androgynes,
above all, need to pass through it. It doesn't really allow for the way
we are.
Xino
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